Lí Ban (mermaid)
Woman turned mermaid, then baptized as a saint.
Lí Ban (also spelled Liban) is a figure from Irish legend associated with the formation of Lough Neagh. According to the tale, she was a woman who transformed into a mermaid after a flood drowned her family, and later became a saint after baptism. Her story appears in medieval manuscripts such as the 12th-century Lebor na hUidre and is noted in the Annals of the Four Masters and the Annals of Ulster.
- also known as
- Muirgein, Muirgeilt, Saint Muirgen
- field
- Irish mythology, hagiography
- known for
- Transformation into a mermaid, baptism by St. Comgall, feast day 27 January
- nationality
- Irish
- feast day
- 27 January
Lore & Background
Lí Ban was the daughter of Eochaid mac Mairidh. When a spring burst under her house, forming Lough Neagh, her family drowned, but she survived in an underwater chamber for a year. After that, she transformed into a being half-human and half-salmon, with her lapdog becoming an otter. She roamed the seas for 300 years while dwelling in the lake.
Reader's Guide
During the time of St. Comgall, her angelic singing was heard by a boat carrying a messenger sent by Comgall to Rome. She promised to meet at Inbhear nOllarbha (Larne Lough) after one year. There she was captured in a fishnet by Béoán son of Innli, a member of the monastery of Tech Dabeoc. She was baptized by Comgall and given the name Muirgein ('sea-born') or Muirgeilt ('sea-wander'). She died immediately after baptism and ascended to heaven, forfeiting another 300 years of life for a Christian soul. A dispute over her burial between Comgall and the net owner was settled by divine judgment: two oxen hitched to her chariot carried her to the monastery of Dabeoc.
Did You Know?
- Lí Ban's name means 'beauty of women' or 'paragon of women' from Old Irish.
- She survived in an underwater chamber for a year before turning into a half-human, half-salmon mermaid.
- Her lapdog turned into an otter when she became a mermaid.
- She was captured in a fishnet at Inbhear nOllarbha (Larne Lough) after promising to meet there.
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